Copy of Jack the Ripper ‘Saucy Jack’ postcard discovered after 136 years

A never-before-seen police file on Jack the Ripper has been found 136 years later by the great-grandson of a detective who worked on the case.

The archive includes two photographs of Michael Ostrog, an early suspect for the Victorian serial killer.

There is also the only copy of the so-called Saucy Jack postcard the Ripper purportedly sent to the police to taunt them.

The original postcard is long lost, making this facsimile copy the only one.

The archive also contains a copy of the “Dear Boss” letter, a note sent by the murderer to the police which he signed off as “Jack the Ripper”, which was the first time the name was referenced.

The original letter is held in the National Archives at Kew and there are only a few copies of it in existence.

And there is a grim photograph of the body of victim Mary Ann Nichols in the morgue.

The file was kept by Inspector Joseph Henry Helson, who was serving in the Metropolitan Police when the infamous serial killer murdered five women in Whitechapel in 1888.

He worked on the murder of Nichols, an East End prostitute who was the Ripper’s first victim.

She was found with her throat cut and mutilation wounds on her body in Buck’s Row in the early hours of August 31 1888.

Insp Helson took charge of the investigation and also assisted with enquiries into the killing of Annie Chapman, the second victim, eight days later.

His archive has passed down four generations of the Helson family and is now being sold by a relative at Whitton & Laing Auctioneers of Exeter, Devon on March 22. It has an estimate of £10,000.

The auctioneers say that the previously unknown collection should spark a bidding war.

A spokesperson said: “For nearly 140 years the Jack the Ripper murders have held an enduring fascination and items directly connected to the crimes very rarely come up for sale.

“People should not forget that the victims were real people with real stories and we wouldn’t want to think of this murderer as an anti-hero but for the monstrous villain that he was.”